Our long-term aim is to elucidate the mechanism by which transmembrane glycoproteins are synthesized and inserted into cellular membranes, and to determine how they move from their site of synthesis, the endoplasmic reticulum, to their ultimate destination in the cell. We are studying the glycoproteins encoded by two lipid-containing animal viruses - vesicular stomatitis virus (VSV) and Sindbis virus, and two cellular plasma membrane glycoproteins - erythrocyte Band III and the hepatocyte binding protein for asialoglycoproteins.